Residents' parking zones consultations will go ahead in Portsmouth

CONSULTATIONS on parking zones in Portsmouth will begin following a council meeting that attracted members of the public from across the city.
Parking zones in the city will be reviewedParking zones in the city will be reviewed
Parking zones in the city will be reviewed

At yesterday's special cabinet member for traffic and transportation it was decided by councillor Ben Dowling that a series of consultations on residents' parking zones (RPZs) will go ahead.

As a result several permitted areas in the city could eventually be altered, with new ones created, in a bid to ease parking issues for homeowners.

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Although the decision does not necessarily mean that the changes to zones will be made, the meeting garnered interest from many with 14 residents and councillors making deputations and a further 29 submitting written statements.

Main areas of concern were the reinstating of zones MB and MC in Southsea which were removed in 2014 after a few months as well as displacement issues where the permits would move the cars into non-permitted roads.

Terry Barfoot attended to represent his neighbours on Mulberry Lane and The Close in Cosham, an area he believed requires a residents' parking zone.

He said: 'The roads become an area of all day free parking for people working at the hospital. My pleas for a residents' parking zone have been ignored for the last 18 months. We want a zone for the same reasons as BC and BF.'

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Lorne Road resident, Mr Nicholson, was hopeful the MC zone could be brought back. He said: 'My record is to drive around for an hour and 10 minutes to find a space before giving up and parking outside one of the flats. There's a real demand to have it reinstated.'

'Cllr Bosher met with us in November and agreed that a survey would be conducted but it was never completed.'

Cllr Suzy Horton shared his views. She felt the removal of the MB and MC zones was unfair. 'I am here today to represent the residents in my ward both about parking itself and undoing an injustice that was done to them,' she said.

'It seems the decision made in 2014 is no more popular than it was then. I think I have enough evidence from residents in my ward to say if they want the zones back.'

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However, Southsea resident Jerry Brown had concerns about displacement that could occur in that area. In his deputation, read by Cllr Luke Stubbs, he stated: 'To be clear, if the MB/MC/MD zones are implemented, all vehicles that cannot afford a permit or cannot get one will now be forced onto the streets east of Waverley Road and South of Albert Road, in other word into Craneswater and East Southsea.

'And done without a survey (the proposal notes that the TRO is "the survey"). These remaining non-RPZ streets will now take all of the problem traffic from the new RPZ streets.'

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More areas in the city could become parking zones

Some believed a different approach needed. Cllr Donna Jones said: 'Much improved public transport is what we need. But we will need a significant amount of investment from the government. We have a problem with air pollution, there are too many cars on the road for the number of houses that we have.'

But Cllr Dowling made it clear that the consultations would not rule out other solutions, and that surveys on areas affected by displacement could still be carried out.

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He said: 'This is about approving a report that recommends consulting a number of people in the city as to whether they would like a parking zone.

'The whole city is very keen that we improve parking in general.'